Recommended Reading

The 2019 edition of Commercial Bankruptcy Litigation was just released by West Publishing Company. This 2,000+ page treatise, with contributions from dozens of top firms across the US, is designed with the non-bankruptcy attorney intended to be its primary reader. The treatise is divided into three sections: (a) “Fundamentals,”, with chapters covering the basics of […]

The 2019 edition of Strategic Alternatives For And Against Distressed Businesses was just released by West Publishing Company. This 1,800+ page treatise, which is a product of more than 100 contributors, is the only resource which provides a state-by-state comparison on a chapter-by-chapter basis of assignments for the benefit of creditors and receiverships. DailyDAC / […]

U.S. tax law encourages energy companies focused on exploration and production of oil, gas, and minerals to form as master limited partnerships. That raises certain tax issues for investors in troubled debt of troubled energy companies. A group of lawyers from Kaye Scholer discuss related issues at length in a white paper entitled, “The Price of Oil […]

Buying the assets of a competitor out of a section 363 bankruptcy sale? This site has explained here and here how section 363(f) of the Bankruptcy Code empowers a court to order that assets sold under section 363(b) of the Code are, in the hands of the purchaser, “free and clear” of any “interests” in […]

In “Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors: Simple as ABC?” Robert L. Eisenbach III provides a brief and clear summary of ABC procedures, and illustrates the process usefully with a hypothetical scenario of a cash-negative company with insufficient money to fund further operations and no likely prospects for credit, and which has specific technology assets that a […]

In “Restructurings and Distressed Investing,”[1] James Inness and John Houghton of Latham & Watkins explain that an investor’s return depends upon the debtor making appropriate operational, financial and corporate alterations – of course – but also upon the investor conserving its power to effect such changes (usually in concert with other constituents) according to a realistic […]

A debtor has the power to assume and assign executory contracts even when those contracts expressly bar such assumption and assignment (see section 365(f) of the Bankruptcy Code). Thus, the debtor may sell its interests under a contract over its counterparty’s objection. This power may be very beneficial to a debtor in possession (and its creditors) […]

In his article,“Secured Lender Primes Earlier Federal Tax Lien in Fourth Circuit Split Decision,” Michael L. Cook of Schulte Roth & Zabel presents a learned and immediately useful nutshell account of how federal tax liens work — in itself a major service to non-specialist legal and financial professionals. Having provided that understanding, Cook shows how […]

Why do large and complex bankruptcy cases get filed mainly in Delaware and New York City? For a valuable perspective on that question, the Editorial Staff of Commercial Bankruptcy Investor recommends Christopher A. Ward, “Venue: Energy Future’s Take on the Controversial Topic,” which is published on the Morris Anderson website. Ward reviews a recent decision […]

The recommended reading this time is not an article but a pleading in a bankruptcy case. The official committee of unsecured creditors (the “Committee”) appointed in the Kids Brands case (In re Kid Brands, Inc., Case No. 14-22582 (Bankr. D. N.J.) objected to financing for which the large corporate debtor seeks approval from the Court. […]